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WASHINGTON Senate Republicans failed for the third time to advance a bill reversing President Barack Obamas immigration orders as they try to wear down Democratic lawmakers who are unified against it.

The 52-47 vote on Thursday, with 60 required to advance the bill, repeated similar votes held Tuesday and Wednesday.

Republicans are trying to demonstrate to conservative lawmakers in the party that they are exhausting efforts to stop Obamas directives shielding millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. from deportation. Theyre also seeking to pressure Democrats, including West Virginias Joe Manchin, who has been critical of Obama on immigration, to switch their votes.

I dont understand why theyd want to block the Senate from even debating a bill to fund homeland security, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor ahead of the vote. All it requires is a little common sense and a little Democratic courage.

Republicans are seeking to use a House-passed spending bill for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to force the president to abandon the immigration action he announced in November. The agency would face a shutdown of nonessential operations if Congress doesnt reach agreement before current funding ends Feb. 27.

Democrats see the measure as an attempt to force unrelated changes to U.S. immigration policy by holding up a bill needed to keep the nation safe.

We have these terrorist acts all over the world taking place right now, said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. And we, the United States of America, are in a position where were not going to fund homeland security?

Republicans control the Senate 54-46, and with 60 votes required to advance legislation, they need support from at least six Democrats. Obama has said hed veto any measure that rolls back his directives.

Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada was the only Republican to join Democrats in voting against advancing the measure in all three votes.

The legislation, H.R. 240, would provide $39.7 billion to keep Homeland Security operating through September.

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Republicans fail in third challenge to Obama on immigration

WASHINGTON -- This was the fight Republicans wanted. They laid the plans in December: Withhold funding for the Department of Homeland Security and then, using the DHS budget as leverage, force President Barack Obama to reverse his immigration executive orders.

What Republicans didnt plan on was having a battle among themselves instead of with the White House.

The House of Representatives passed a bill that would keep Homeland Security funded beyond the Feb. 27 deadline while also undoing all the president's immigration rulings, including giving legal status to so-called Dreamers. But, after three tries,Senate Democrats have held on to a filibuster and blocked the bill.

Now the GOP cant seem to find or agree on an endgame.Conservatives remain determined to undo the immigration orders, period. But cutting off funding for the department tasked with protecting the U.S. from terrorism would be politically dicey at any time and particularly hard to defend at a moment when Islamic State group militants are willing to burn anti-ISIS coalition captives alive.

In truth, the debate over DHS funding is more about optics than anything operational. The department wont actually close its doors and go home to wait for Congress to pass a funding bill -- or for terrorists to strike. Most of its functions are considered essential: Employees will still have to report to work. But they will have to wait until Congress restores their funding to get their paychecks. It would take a long-term stalemate to start causing real problems in areas such as hiring and purchasing equipment.

Both chambers of Congress headed home Thursday without a resolution.And with a brief recess scheduled for the week of Presidents Day, Congress has only eight working days left before DHS funding runs out.

Asked Thursday whether he knows what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell might do, House Speaker John Boehner was straightforward. No, he said, drawing laughter from the press.Listen, hes got a tough job over there. Ive got a tough job over here. God bless him and good luck, Boehner said, drawing more laughter from the reporters. What else can you say?

And as much as Republicans will insist the next few weeks that the tough job is standing up to Democrats, its really about attempting to settle the intra-GOP dispute. A number of Republicans -- including Sens. John McCain, Dean Heller and Susan Collins --appear willing to back away, to fund Homeland Security without tying it to immigration-reform rollbacks. But the partys right wing refuses to give in.

Its a near-repeat of the lead-up to the federal government shutdown in October 2013. House conservatives pushed for a fight with Obama by attaching a defunding of the Affordable Care Act to a spending bill, considered must pass. But the groups pushing for the fight were never able to explain how they would win. And after the bill got bogged down in the Senate, they had no idea what to do next. A 17-day shutdown of the entire government ensued.

This time, Republicans control the Senate. But without 60 votes, it makes little difference.

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GOP Meltdown: Republicans Battle Each Other On Immigration, Homeland Security Funding

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